Chapter 6 Business Writing Trait 6: Correctness

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Business Writing Trait 6: Correctness

Imagine that you are getting ready for a big event and you want to look your best. You check yourself in the mirror: Does your hair look good? Are your teeth free of broccoli bits? Is your collar straight? Are your clothes pressed and spot free? What about the cat fur? You check these details because you would be embarrassed to show up in public with any of these glaring gaffes.

In the same way, checking correctness is the last step before you share your writing with another person. Just as you wouldn’t want to go out with buttons missing or hems unraveling, you wouldn’t want to publish with agreement errors, misspellings, and other embarrassing mistakes.

In this chapter

Correctness: An Overview

The conventional use of punctuation, capitalization, spelling, grammar, and sentences all converge into the error-free communication that business needs and expects. The Proofreader’s Guide at the end of this book provides detailed rules and examples for each of these important areas. In this chapter, you'll find a general overview of conventions followed by solutions for common convention problems.

Why Is Grammar Important?

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Punctuation

Punctuation marks are like road signs, telling the reader where to pause or stop. Without them, the reader can easily get lost; and once that happens, the writing has failed to deliver its message. Click the links below to find rules and examples for these punctuation marks.

Mechanics

Mechanics covers capitalization, numbers, abbreviations, and spelling. The capital letter that begins a sentence serves a high purpose, signaling a new thought or idea. Capitals also highlight the importance of names—names of people, corporations, official documents, localities, and so on. Using numbers and abbreviations in a consistent way is especially important in business writing. And spelling speaks for itself.

Usage

The English language is full of words that are so close in appearance or pronunciation that you may have trouble telling them apart—your/you’re, there/their/they’re, advise/advice, and so forth. Each of these words has its own meaning, and it’s up to the writer to use each in the right way. Naturally, misusing a word creates confusion. The minute a reader says, “Does the writer really mean that, or did they mean to say this instead,” the message has been interrupted and perhaps lost. You can improve your usage by reviewing definitions and examples of commonly confused words.

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Grammar

Grammar involves using the eight parts of speech together in conventionally acceptable ways. One says, “The packages have arrived,” not “The packages they has arrived.” Correct, standard grammar is expected in business writing. Correctness is not a matter of being stuffy but of being understood. You can improve the grammar of your writing by reviewing the following parts of speech:

Constructing Sentences

Effective sentences have style—which means that they not only express ideas well but also engage the reader and reflect well on the writer. Click on the links below to find rules and examples for constructing sentences.

Avoiding Sentence Errors

Effective sentences also are correctly created. To communicate, a sentence needs to be free of basic errors. Click the links below to see explanations and examples of the following types of sentence errors.

The following material provides an overview of the most-common problems that arise with punctuation, mechanics, usage, grammar, and sentences. Refer to the Proofreader’s Guide for more depth and coverage.

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Correctness: Problems and Solutions

Correctness ensures that nothing will derail your message. It also ensures that your message reflects well on you and your company. The following material provides a quick guide to the most common correctness problems—and solutions to them.

Using Commas

I have trouble with capitalization.

Listen for

First Words: Capitalize the first word of each sentence as well as the first word of a quoted sentence.

The applicant asked, “Do you offer a flex-time schedule?”

Proper Nouns and Adjectives: Capitalize names or words used as names (such as Dad and Mom). Also capitalize the names of days, months, holidays, titles, organizations, and adjectives formed from proper nouns.

I asked Sandy Novak if she could work Sunday, March 6, to benefit the Young Reader’s Association. This year’s fund-raiser has an Olympic theme.

Note:Do not type in ALL CAPS unless you are typing a WARNING.

I always get it wrong when adding s, ing, or ed.

Listen for

Forming Plurals: Form the plurals of most nouns by adding s to the singular form. If the noun ends in ch, s, sh, x, or z, form plurals by adding es. If the noun ends in a y that follows a consonant, change the y to i and add es.

The ladies from the churches tell stories to children.

Note: Words such as child or mouse have special plural forms—children, mice.

Doubling Final Consonants: If a word ends in a consonant after a single vowel and the syllable is accented, double the consonant before adding a suffix that starts with a vowel.

Oh, I was planning to remove the price tag before I wrapped the present.

Using the Silent e: If a word ends in a silent e, keep the e when adding a suffix beginning with a consonant. Drop the e when adding a suffix beginning with a vowel.

I’m hopeful that I won’t be driving in a snowstorm tomorrow. Hoping may not change the forecast, however.

I get words mixed up.

Learn these differences.

bring, take

Bring refers to movement toward the writer or speaker; take refers to movement away from the writer or speaker.

Please take this note to President Jones and bring back her rely.

fewer, less

Fewer refers to countable units; less refers to quantity, value, or degree.

Fewer complaints mean less customer dissatisfaction.

it’s, its

It’s is the contraction of “it is” or “it has.” Its is the possessive form of “it.”

It’s too bad this printer leaves streaks on its printouts.

lay, lie

As verbs, lay means “to put or place something” while lie means “to rest or recline.” (However, the past tense of lie is lay.)